This is a charming lodge style / lake house with the stained wood and posts.

Paint alone will do amazing things here. Paint the secondary doors and the siding a color that will work with the stained wood tone that you have in the gable and posts and evoke a unique lake house . . river rock could work if you choose warm colors with some rusty tones in them . . . .right now the siding is a taupe or /warm gray which is fighting the stained wood tone. . what can you paint?

If you can paint the siding, consider a soft sage green . .it will work against wood and work against white windows. Use a great eggplant or mustard for your primary entry door . . barn red would work well too . .

Hoping only to paint the trim, doors for now, the siding is a greenish gray colour. Thanks for the positive comment!

Well your siding and your stained stuff are fighting each other a bit now . . if what you have is a camo green gray . . sort of like bm antique pewter . . then . . try a deep red-orange for your front door, .. find a couple of shades lighter and deeper than your existing siding, and paint the secondary doors those shades ..

This might be close to your siding colour. I think it's a great colour scheme (the blue-grey 'basement' floor isn't relevant to your house, though - a two-level colour treatment would chop the house in half horizontally). I know it's traditional, but actually it's the wood that bothers me most on your house. It makes it look squat. However, if that is staying as is, then the buttery cream below wouldn't work that well. Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan might be a good colour to consider. I got the colour sample on a Maria Killiam colour advice page, so it's probably as accurate as we're going to get on screen. For now, I'd paint the doors the same colour.

Yes that looks really nice,, all great ideas,, I feel the same way about the wood,, its too much, too low, you can't even trim the windows because they brought it down too far, gosh there is so many things that are irritating me about this house,, if I could only win about 100,000 ! Love the ideas ! thanks!

I made the verandah posts a darker version of the wall colour -- they just vagued out in the trim colour. You might consider adding a bit of character to the bottom door with an eccentric door knocker. I found this slightly monsterised cutie on ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OWL-DOOR-KNOCKER-TRADITIONAL-VINTAGE-STYLE-GREAT-CHARACTER-CAST-IRON-/171630797520

Maria, I feel for you. One step at a time. Just down-tone the things that irritate you for now and get your long-term plans in place while you enjoy your life in your new house.

Ha ha ,,, so true,, thank you all,,lots to think about,,